MARKET PULSE-BlackBerry, Amazon, Ebay, Christopher Banks

Reuters Staff

5 Min Read

March 14 (Reuters) - Some U.S. stocks on the move on Thursday: (For more market insights, including options activity, click on ; for The Day Ahead newsletter link.reuters.com/mex49s; for the Morning News Call newsletter, link.reuters.com/faq23t)

WALL ST OPENS UP, DOW EYES 10TH DAY OF GAINS

Wall Street opened higher on Thursday as the Dow attempted to extend its recent winning streak to 10 days after data showed the labor market recovery was gaining traction.

The China-based company said a late-stage trial of its experimental vaccine for hand, foot and mouth disease met the main study goal of preventing the infection in infants between the ages of 6 and 35 months.

** EBIX INC, $17.17, up 10 pct (0946 ET)

The insurance software company reported a 23 percent rise in fourth-quarter sales as revenue from its exchanges business rose.

** CHINDEX INTERNATIONAL INC, $12.70, up 15 pct (0946 ET)

The company reported a higher quarterly profit, helped by increased contributions from its hospital in Beijing.

** BLACKBERRY, $15.89, up 1.5 pct (0945 ET)

The company’s volatile shares surged on Wednesday after the smartphone maker said one of its established partners had placed an order for 1 million BlackBerry 10 smartphones, with shipments set to begin immediately.

The Waterloo, Ontario-based company said it is the largest ever single purchase order in its history, a big fillip for the company.

** AMAZON.COM INC, $267.80, down 3 pct (0944 ET)

JP Morgan cut its rating on the stock to “neutral” from “overweight”, saying an analysis of the world’s biggest Internet retailer’s key business lines suggests a slower growth in gross profit in 2013. It slashed its price target on the stock by $33 to $300.

Amazon said on Wednesday it cut the price of its largest Kindle Fire tablet.

** EBAY INC, $52.25, up 2.5 pct (0944 ET)

Evercore Partners raised its rating on the e-commerce company’s stock to “overweight” from “equal weight” following a sell off of its shares. Ebay’s stock fell on Wednesday after MasterCard Inc spoke about potential fee increases to EBay’s PayPal payments business. EBay had disclosed this in its annual report in February.

“We estimate the impact to be less than 50 basis points of PayPal’s margin, even assuming a full year’s worth of pro-forma impact at a 50 percent increase (by MasterCard),” Evercore analysts said.

** MEN‘S WEARHOUSE INC, $32.44, up 12 pct (0943 ET)

The clothing retailer said it would explore strategic options for its K&G brand and buy back an additional $155 million of its stock.

Men’s Wearhouse also posted a smaller quarterly net loss of $3.4 million, or 7 cents per share, compared with $3.8 million, or 7 cents per share, a year earlier.

The company, which makes chips for set-top boxes, reported a bigger-than-expected loss for the fourth quarter, but said it believed it “would experience profitability starting in the first quarter”.

** E*TRADE FINANCIAL CORP, $10.99, down 7 pct (0940 ET)

Citadel LLC, the largest investor in E*Trade, is selling its entire stake in the discount brokerage and bank company, ending a contentious and profitable five-year relationship.

E*Trade said on Wednesday that Citadel, a Chicago-based hedge fund that bailed it out in November 2007, is selling 27.4 million shares, its entire 9.6 percent stake, on or about March 19 to Citigroup Inc.

The company and activist hedge fund TPG-Axon Capital struck a deal on Wednesday that could lead to the removal of the oil and gas company’s chief executive, marking the second time in two months that allegations of self-dealing and poor performance have shaken a U.S. energy firm. (Compiled by Pallavi Ail in Bangalore; Editing by Sreejiraj Eluvangal)